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The beauty of the center-mounted seat is you embrace your child. However, how the many brands of seats mount differs with manufacturer and engineering elegance. The WeeRide Kangaroo is over-engineered, meaning you can haul heavier children. But it requires more tools and time to install.

That’s not to say is does not work well; it’s to say it takes too many trips to the hardware store to make it work effectively.

The Veggie Biker bought this seat through Craig’s List. Given he paid $30 and the previous owner, a parent who used it with two children, installed it the first time for the Veggie grandad, the Veggie Biker should be happy and just quit writing, now. But…, that would not be the blogger way.

The short and the long of Veggie Biking’s complaint is the length of the bolts and the thickness of the clamp that connects the cross-bar rail to the seat stay (the pipe the seat slips into) and the head tube (the pipe the handle bars slip into). On the two bikes used, a Giant XL Cypress and a Raleigh C30, the bolts are too short in the rear. We got it to fit the Raleigh by removing extra pieces fromt he clamp. But just had to get longer bolts for the Giant. And on the Raleigh hybrid, there is not enough clearance for the clamps to slip neatly onto the seat stay and the head tube. The tubes extend well above the Giant’s cross bar. But on the Raleigh, the clamps interfere with the seat adjustment lever.

And, of course, for the cool dad who drops the kid at child care, leaving behind the seat for the afternoon pickup, the bike still has that ugly cross bar attachement. iBert avoids this with a simple handlebar bracket. But, iBert is rated at 38 pounds, while WeeRide carries up to 42 pounds.

The short and the long of Veggie Biking’s complaint is the length of the bolts (note these are not the factory bolts) and the thickness of the clamp that connects to the seat stay (the pipe the seat slips into) and the head tube (the pipe the handle bars slip into). On the two bikes used, the bolts are too short in the rear. And on the Raleigh hybrid, there is no clearance for the clamps to slip neatly onto the seat stay and the head tube. For the Giant, shown here, only the bolts were ill-fitting. But at least the Giant’s tubes extend well above the cross bar for easy clamping.

The test ride with a real child requires many strap adjustments, no matter whose seat you use. And it just adds to the fear the child has for the first time ride. Solve this by having the kid sit in the seat in the house–on the floor–and make it a game.Then, when it is time to ride, just plunk the kid in and click the buckle. Do the same with the helmet.

Fear is the enemy of teaching children to ride.

Knee knocking was the Veggie Biker’s biggest fear. This did not occur even with a 6’2″ father and granddad. However, it would be nice if one could slide the seat back and fourth along the cross bar for a better fit depending upon the brand of bike being used.

The final consumer review was uttered by the passenger as her father pedaled away. “Go, Daddy, go!”

The Giant XL Cypress hybrid bike seemed better suited for the Kangaroo Child Carrier than the Raleigh. The head tube and the seat stand both were extended well above the cross bar, making attaching the clamps much more effective.